Morpheus
Morpheus is the name of a fictional character (played by Laurence Fishburne) in the science fiction films, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions. The Wachowski brothers, writers and directors of The Matrix films, were fans of Neil Gaiman and based the character of Morpheus on the title character from the comic book The Sandman, also adopting one of his most common pseudonyms, Morpheus. Morpheus' voice role in The Matrix: Path of Neo is retained by Laurence Fishburne, the only actor from the films to do so. ' The Dreamer of Dreams In the Matrix films, Morpheus is the captain of the ''Nebuchadnezzar, which is a hovercraft of the human forces of the last human city, Zion, in a devastated world where most humans are grown by sentient machines and kept imprisoned in the Matrix, a virtual computer-generated world. Morpheus was once a human living inside the Matrix until he was freed earlier in life by the "One" before Neo. Morpheus is apparently a very popular public figure in the city of Zion. He is also known in the Matrix, but as a dangerous terrorist wanted by 'Agents', who appear to be Federal investigators but are sentient computer programs that patrol the Matrix, eliminating any threat to the Matrix. Like other hovercraft crews, Morpheus and his crew are dedicated to the protection of Zion and the freeing of humans from the Matrix. The name Morpheus is that of the god of dreams in Greek mythology, which is consistent with the character's involvement with the "dreaming" of the Matrix. Finding The One Earlier in his life, Morpheus gained the romantic attention of Niobe, another hovercraft captain. Their relationship became estranged shortly after Morpheus visited the Oracle, an ally living in the Matrix, who told Morpheus that he would be the person who would find the One, a human having superhuman abilities within the Matrix who could end the human/machine war. Since that visit, Morpheus has spent much of his life searching the Matrix for the One. In the first feature film, The Matrix, Morpheus successfully finds and monitors a man named Thomas A. Anderson, a hacker who calls himself Neo. Despite a close call with Agents that capture, interrogate, and place a surveillance device on Neo, Morpheus and his crew locate him. Morpheus offers Neo a choice of ingesting a red pill, which will activate a trace program to locate Neo's body in the real world and allow the Nebuchadnezzar crew to extract him, or a blue pill, which will leave Neo in the Matrix to live and believe as he wishes. Neo takes the red pill. The Nebuchadnezzar crew is then able to eject Neo's body from the Matrix powerplant and retrieve him from the cold sewers where the machines patrol. Morpheus takes a risk in helping Neo escape the Matrix, as human minds that live too long in the Matrix may have trouble in comprehending the reality. Initially, Neo does experience denial when Morpheus explains the truth, a point for which Morpheus apologises. The Prophecy begins Shortly after Neo visits the Oracle, Morpheus is captured and interrogated by Agents. Because Morpheus, as a hovercraft captain, possesses access codes to the Zion mainframe computer, the surviving members of the ship's crew are about to unplug Morpheus from the Matrix without the ability to retrieve his mind or his body, a process that will kill him. Neo and Trinity, however, reenter the Matrix to make a daring and successful rescue of Morpheus. Neo saves Trinity from a helicopter crash, confirming Morpheus' belief that Neo is indeed the One. Neo is eventually killed by Agent Smith shortly after the rescue, but revived as the One and returned to the Nebuchadnezzar before the Machines' Sentinels can destroy the ship. The Dream is gone from him In the second film, the Matrix Reloaded, Morpheus is more confident that the war is nearing its end. A spiritual as well as an influential leader, Morpheus convinces one hovercraft ship to stay in the Matrix to await contact from the Oracle, despite orders from Zion for all ships to return to the city. Here he incurs the wrath of Jason Locke, commander of the Zion defensive forces; but Morpheus' actions are defended by Councillor Hamann, a member of the city's ruling body. With the aid of Trinity and Niobe, Morpheus successfully retrieves the Keymaker, an exiled program that can access many hidden areas of the Matrix, including the Source, the central Machine City mainframe computer and programming heart of the Matrix. Morpheus aids Neo in successfully entering the door to the Source before returning to the Nebuchadnezzar. After Neo enters the Source and returns from the Matrix with new information, he tells Morpheus that the Prophecy was a system of control that would bring the One to the Source to disseminate the programming inside Neo into the Matrix to allow a reload of the Matrix while Zion is destroyed and allowed to be rebuilt. A sudden Sentinel attack destroys the Nebuchadnezzar, further damaging Morpheus' belief in the outcome of the war. The crew is rescued by the hovercraft Mjolnir commanded by Captain Roland, who joins forces with the craft Logos commanded by Niobe. Morpheus repurposes himself In the final film Matrix Revolutions, Morpheus is somewhat dispirited, and has problems in understanding now what may happen to Zion and its people. Now without a ship of his own, he and Link (the Nebuchadnezzar's Operator) reside on the hovercraft Mjolnir, commanded by Roland. Morpheus renews his conviction that Neo could still save Zion, and reawakens Neo, whose mind is trapped in a computer netherworld called Mobil Avenue. With the aid of Trinity and the program Seraph, he rescues Neo and returns his mind to the real world. Morpheus says farewell to Neo and Trinity before they leave for the Machine City in the hovercraft Logos to stop the war. Morpheus then aids Niobe as she flies the Mjolnir in a desperate ride back to Zion. The ship successfully stops the first onslaught of the Machine attack with the ship's electromagnetic pulse weapon. When the Sentinels suddenly stop a second wave of attacks, Morpheus realises that Neo is somehow fighting for them. When the Sentinels retreat after Neo defeats the former Agent Smith, now a virus that has threatened both humans and machines, Morpheus and Niobe embrace in celebration as cheers arise from the Zion population, who have received a brokered peace through Neo's sacrifice. Of the original Nebuchadnezzar crew in the Matrix, only Morpheus survives to see freedom for Zion. Referring to the subjectivity of reality throughout the film trilogy, Morpheus' last line in Matrix Revolutions, said in disbelief as the Sentinels retreat from Zion, is "Is this real?". Online In Chapter 1.2 of Matrix Online, Morpheus grows impatient with the machines and demands that they return the body of Neo. After many unanswered public speeches threatening action, Morpheus starts terrorist attacks throughout the Matrix. These attacks take the form of weapons that reveal the Matrix's inner workings (its code) for all human beings to see, even those not yet awakened to the simulation. This is known to have caused mass panic and forced awakenings to those not ready to see the truth. By killing Morpheus' simulacrum guards, redpills were able to find means of disabling Morpheus's bombs. Morpheus' erratic, nightmarish zealotry has become closer to that of the false terrorist accusations made about him by the Agents during the war. During the game events on May 26, 2005 (as recorded on the game's official website), Morpheus plants a code bomb in a water treatment facility (it has been repeatedly stated that this specific location is somehow important on a deeper level). After planting the bomb, he realizes he is being hunted by the enigmatic, masked figure known as the Assassin. Morpheus escapes the treatment facility; however, upon his leaving, the Assassin bends the code of the Matrix and emerges from a vent in the wall. Morpheus is caught off-guard and is unable to dodge the Assassin's bullets. He dies from gunshot wounds. As with Neo and Trinity, Morpheus' remains in the real world have yet to be found. During Chapter 6.2, a Live Event states that EPN controller Shimada and Zion operative Ghost manage to identify recent traces of the captain's beacon for Morpheus' post-war hovercraft, the Nabonidus. This was later proven to be part of a clever ruse orchestrated by the exiled Sentinel leader, the General. Some players argued against the death of the character Morpheus as the Matrix now provides an "Emergency Jack-Out" upgrade for redpills, eliminating the permanent death that previous redpills experienced if killed within the Matrix before the Truce. This feature could save a redpill's life with no fatal injuries. It was later revealed that the Assassin's bullets had contained a new form of code encryption, named a "kill code", which bypassed this technology. These kill codes are explained to be extremely difficult to produce and usually require a direct sample of the subject's residual self image data, thus making them extremely rare and only used in the most extreme and specialist of circumstances. HRumors and the popular belief of a faked death still run rampant, largely based on the fact that prior to Morpheus' assassination a few select redpills were sent an email stating that he would likely "fade away" and hide. Also, in the aftermath of the Assassin's downfall, it is discovered that the his gun and bullets, which contained several kill codes for key figures, are missing. It was never directly confirmed; but many believe these were in the possession of the later turned rogue Zion controller, Anome. In April 2007, an RSI transmission appearing to be that of Morpheus appeared throughout the city at random claiming that Neo is still alive and that the Machines have him captive. These transmissions have since been revealed to be a fabrication made by the Exile known as the General, who was planning to sow dissent between Zion and the Machines. In January 2008, an unknown entity known only as the "Intruder" was detected inside the Matrix. His purpose is currently unknown, but he has been known to look for the General's Morpheus Simulacra. He finds said simulacra during Cinematic 9.2 of The Matrix Online story. The Intruder becomes disgusted at the program's existence, and alludes to maybe be looking for the "real" Morpheus, whose death is still shrouded in mystery. Other Media Morpheus appears in the South Park Imaginationland trilogy. He is a member of Castle Sunshine's Council of Nine alongside Aslan, Gandalf, Glinda, Jesus Christ, Luke Skywalker, Popeye, Wonder Woman, and Zeus. Along with Jesus and Popeye, he fights against the army of evil imaginary characters when they invade Castle Sunshine. During the battle, Morpheus fights Freddy Kruger.